https://sweetinstitute.com/the-power-of-prevention/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-power-of-prevention The One Stop Shop for Mental Health Clinicians and Agencies Tue, 24 Feb 2026 12:24:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://sweetinstitute.com/the-power-of-prevention/#comment-216 Sun, 11 Aug 2019 23:05:17 +0000 http://sweetinstitute.com/2018-12-19-the-power-of-prevention/#comment-216 I researched and wrote four case studies on teenagers who had committed homicide in Oregon back in the 1990s. One of them was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but because diagnosis did not happen until AFTER the murders occurred, even my fellow forensic psychiatrists and psychologists at Bellevue Hospital did not believe his diagnosis was accurate. The kid was 15 years old, and there was no evidence that he even knew what schizophrenia was so my question at that time was how could he have faked it? There was absolutely no evidence on his computer or in library books he checked out to indicate that he had researched schizophrenia. It is not easy to fake thought disorder especially when one doesn’t even know what it looks like.
I found their skepticism dumbfounding particularly in light of the fact that it takes seven years, on average, between the time symptoms are first experienced (during the prodromal phase), and either diagnosis or a full blown psychotic break.
These colleagues worked in Bellevue’s forensic unit, and weren’t aware of the average length of the prodromal phase. And yet, they were “experts.”
I have to wonder what kind of difference it would make if people were diagnosed sooner.
In this case, many lives would have been saved, and a sick 15-year-old boy would not have had to live with the murder of both his parents, and 2 students at his high school. He might not have had to spend the rest of his life in prison. Instead, he might have received appropriate treatment.
One can only dream I guess.

]]> https://sweetinstitute.com/the-power-of-prevention/#comment-226 Sun, 11 Aug 2019 23:05:17 +0000 http://sweetinstitute.com/2018-12-19-the-power-of-prevention/#comment-226 I researched and wrote four case studies on teenagers who had committed homicide in Oregon back in the 1990s. One of them was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but because diagnosis did not happen until AFTER the murders occurred, even my fellow forensic psychiatrists and psychologists at Bellevue Hospital did not believe his diagnosis was accurate. The kid was 15 years old, and there was no evidence that he even knew what schizophrenia was so my question at that time was how could he have faked it? There was absolutely no evidence on his computer or in library books he checked out to indicate that he had researched schizophrenia. It is not easy to fake thought disorder especially when one doesn’t even know what it looks like.
I found their skepticism dumbfounding particularly in light of the fact that it takes seven years, on average, between the time symptoms are first experienced (during the prodromal phase), and either diagnosis or a full blown psychotic break.
These colleagues worked in Bellevue’s forensic unit, and weren’t aware of the average length of the prodromal phase. And yet, they were “experts.”
I have to wonder what kind of difference it would make if people were diagnosed sooner.
In this case, many lives would have been saved, and a sick 15-year-old boy would not have had to live with the murder of both his parents, and 2 students at his high school. He might not have had to spend the rest of his life in prison. Instead, he might have received appropriate treatment.
One can only dream I guess.

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